A lawsuit filed on Tuesday alleges that the Trump administration’s immigration agencies have been sharing confidential information about Iranian asylum seekers with the Iranian government, violating national immigration regulations and endangering countless Iranians.
Background
The lawsuit depicts a coordinated campaign between the U.S. and Iranian governments to identify Iranians in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody and pressure them to return to Iran. This is a marked departure from decades of diplomatic hostility between the two governments and an ongoing war.
Roughly 600 Iranians were put in immigration detention last year, according to public records obtained by the National Iranian American Council. In June, an Iranian woman was among the two dozen migrants the U.S. deported to the Central African Republic — a marked departure from a decades-long practice by the U.S. of welcoming Iranian dissidents, exiles, and others since the 1979 Islamic Revolution forced a large number of Iranians to flee.
The U.S. government is allowed to work with government officials of foreign countries to coordinate deportation logistics. However, federal regulations passed in the late 1990s prohibit the government from sharing information that could reveal that the individual getting deported applied for asylum.
Response from Authorities
Homeland Security said in a statement that ICE works to get travel documents for detainees in their custody and that ICE facilitates “consular access to detained individuals, in accordance with applicable laws, regulations, and agency policy.” The Department of Homeland Security denied that it is sharing asylum application records with the Iranian government, calling the allegations “FALSE”.
The lawsuit is seeking to halt sharing information about asylum seekers with the Iranian government and appoint an independent monitor to prevent future disclosures. The complaint names the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin, and the Department of State as some of the defendants.
Original reporting: Dallas TX News (HLL/CB) — read the source article.
